Introduction

The culture of an organisation is a way of describing the typical way in which that organisation operates. It is something that is created over time by the organisation and the people that work for it. Siemens is built on a high performance culture. This means that everyone shares the same vision and values and trusts each other's contribution.

Siemens is a global electronics business with a turnover of around £60 billion a year. Its global headquarters are based in Germany but has sites around the world including around 100 in the UK with its UK HQ in Berkshire. Siemens products touch all our lives, ranging from kitchen equipment to power generation and from traffic lights to hospital scanners.

HR development

Siemens is committed to helping its employees to develop and fulfil themselves at work. They may want more training, more interesting jobs or just a better work-life balance. Siemens knows that to maintain and develop the excellent workforce that it has requires good people management. It believes that its human resources should be actively involved (called 'engagement') in its activities. This is a key plank of Siemens' business strategy.

People Excellence

This is the name given to the part of the strategy that relates to people management. It consists of four main elements:

• achieving a high performance culture

• increasing the global talent pool

• strengthening expert careers

• Siemens Leadership Excellence Programme (SLE).

At its heart is the building of a high performance culture. Employees know that they are valued and trusted and this helps to motivate them. Siemens uses a number of ways to make sure that it shows its appreciation of employees. This all helps them to feel part of a successful team and helps Siemens compete more effectively.

Creating the culture

The high performance culture is based on teamwork. Targets are set for the business and these are related to individual and team targets. In this way, everyone is working towards better results. As team performance improves over time, so does the business.

Talent management

Siemens makes sure that all of its employees, not just the high fliers, are supported to reach their potential. It matches individuals' talents with tasks. Talent management allows for:

• job enrichment, where extra tasks or responsibility can make a job more rewarding and

• job enlargement, where the scope of a job is widened and extra skills developed.

Talent management is applied to the business globally as a key part of the business strategy. It is closely linked to performance management. Performance management is used to monitor progress and set objectives for employees. It allows an honest dialogue to take place so everyone knows how well they are performing and how they might improve. This feeds directly into the high performance culture.

Conclusion

The success of an organisation can be traced back to its people. Siemens demonstrates this well. Its high performance culture supports people and helps them to reach their potential. This helps Siemens to be competitive.